A few test shots with an MC Cosinon T200/4

This lens has several shortcomings. It has a pronounced coma

and the focus barrel requires a considerable amount of turning to get it right, thus making it challenging to fast focus when you need to.

Camera sensor clearly influences colours’ rendition. Despite the ‘personality’ of this lens, the overall picture’s feel is clearly (to me, at least) that of the classic ‘cold’, slightly bluish Pentax (or, should I say, Sony) sensor.

At f4 (all the images published here were taken at this aperture), the bokeh is pleasant. Nothing exceptional, but for a lens that sells for around 15 euros, the results are good enough.

That said, a core question, asked about every time one think of using sub-par lenses like this, remains: why on Earth?

First of all: why not?

Secondly, sometime using high quality lenses turns the shooting experience into a stressful journey. Knowing that the lens can deliver great results, sometimes leads to overthinking. A cheap lens forces to stay in the Keep It Simple mood.

Finally and, perhaps, more serioysly, limitations enhance creativity. As it is not the gear but the eye that makes it a good photo, using lenses’ shortcomings, creatively is a good way to train the eye into foreseeing the actual photography.